Defense chief orders ground forces to go to Iraq

In complete disregard of nationwide protests, Defense Agency Director General Ishiba Shigeru on January 26 ordered the Ground Self-Defense Forceﾕs main unit and the Maritime SDF in charge of transportation of their supplies to go to Iraq.

About 250 workers during their lunch break rushed to the Defense Agency in Tokyo in protest against the dispatch plan and called for the reconstruction and humanitarian assistance to be led by the United Nations.

At a park near the Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture from which three C-130 transport aircraft left for Kuwait, about 100 citizens shouted, "Turn back to Japan!" .

In Asahikawa City, Hokkaido, in which the main unit of the GSDF is stationed, Japanese Communist Party members of the Hokkaido Prefectural Assembly braved the heavy snows to stage an early-morning protest calling for the cancellation of the dispatch of the GSDF to Iraq. (end)